Category: What They’re Saying

I realized that the problem was in the mind of the players. Now we are better. We need time and we will continue to work. It is important to be a psychologist but we need good players to win. Good psychologist, bad players — it is impossible to win. We want to be better.”

— Italian coach Fabio Capello, who took over as England coach in 2008, saying his main success of the year was changing the mentality of the players, who often performed well for their clubs but not for the national team. (Reuters)

“Women’s soccer is on a tremendous growth pattern in the U.S. This is a huge opportunity for us.”

— Jochen Zeitz, chief executive of Puma, on the three-year deal the German company is expected to announce Monday with Women’s Professional Soccer. Puma will pay roughly $10 million to become the official equipment supplier to WPS. (Wall Street Journal)

“Without being derogatory, West Ham are a second-rate club. Let’s not kid ourselves … Once I have proved myself in a team such this, I can hope to make the step up to another club.”

— West Ham United defender Herita Ilunga, on loan from French Ligue 1 club Toulouse, endears himself at the London club. The Congo DR international later said he meant “second level” club. (TeamTalk.com)

“They just can’t do this. They put me on the floor, they got my camera and they threw it in the trash can. They can’t do this to us.”

— A paparazzo who reportedly was beaten up by David Beckham‘s bodyguards after pursing Beckham and his family through the streets of Beverly Hills. Beckham reportedly stopped his car and confronted the photographer before his bodyguards took over. (EOnline)

“Man City have scored in all of their home wins this year.”

— Said Sky Sports TV commentator Rob Hawthorne in case fans were wondering how soccer games are won. (BBC)

“It was like playing against Ronaldinho on the Playstation – he did the exact same run-up, it was very strange.”

– Palermo goalkeeper Marco Amelia reveals how he stopped a penalty kick by AC Milan’s Brazilian star Ronaldinho late last month. (Goal.com)

“I’d like to congratulate North Korea on a wonderful effort. It was obviously very difficult for us to hold onto the lead because they kept coming at us and giving us trouble possessing the ball, but I am very, very proud of my players tonight. We won because we played very good defense throughout this tournament and because Sydney Leroux and Alex Morgan scored as many goals as they did.”

— Coach Tony DiCicco after guiding the USA to the U-20 Women’s World Cup title.

“We’ve had up to 15,000 tickets go out – and we actually want to fill the stadium … we want to get up to capacity, up to 32,000. We want as many Aucklanders as possible to take the opportunity to see these players.”

— Lance Vervoort, general manager of ARC Parks, which is promoting the Los Angeles Galaxy (with David Beckham) game against Oceania All-Stars in Auckland, New Zealand, announcing a two-for-one ticket deal in which anyone who has purchased a ticket can now get another one for free. (NewsTalk ZB)

“When I tell myself that I have already been a pro for five years, I smile saying ‘already, holy cow!’ I have to put to use all that I have learned since the beginning.”

— Freddy Adu, 19, who is struggling to get playing time with French league club Monaco but scored his first U.S. national team goal two weeks ago against Guatemala. (SoccerNet)

“This needs to be investigated. We don’t know if the product was past its sell-by date of if somebody put something intentionally in the juice.”

— Pedro Nelson Fleitas, coach of relegation-threatened Paraguyan club 3 de Febrero after seven of his players were struck with food poisoning that was blamed on a juice drink mixed with vitamins before a 4-1 loss to Guarani. (Reuters)

“I don’t want to diminish anyone who travels on the bus, but I haven’t done that for a long time.”

— Manchester City’s Brazilian star Robinho denies widely published media reports that he was spotted taking public transportation. (Irish Times)

“I’ve never witnessed such a dismal display from a team in my long career. It was alarming. … I could have made five subsitutions at halftime.”

— Borussia Moenchengladbach coach Hans Meyer, whose team lost 3-1 to Energie Cottbus, which entered the game in last place. Gladbach’s American midfielder Michael Bradley scored an own goal in the 17th minute. Gladbach dropped to second-to-last place with the loss. (RPonline)

“This is an Englishman who grew up with the game who has a deep understanding of Arsenal. It’s essential if Arsenal is going to be respected. This is not going to be an American coming with no understanding of Arsenal looking to make it in to a Disneyfied version of Arsenal.”

— MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis on becoming the new chief executive of EPL club Arsenal. (Telegraph)

“I guess you have to go back to youth soccer. We won a few State Cups with the [La Jolla] Nomads.”

— Frankie Hejduk, 34, who scored Columbus’ third goal in its 3-1 MLS Cup win over the New York Red Bulls, upon being asked to recall his previous club titles. Hejduk has played nine years of MLS ball, spent four years in the German Bundesliga, one year in the Swiss league, and he played three seasons at UCLA. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

“There is a concern that people will not come in the numbers we expect from aboard. It’s very important to promote in the next months. Hopefully the soccer people will still travel.”

— Horst Schmidt, FIFA consultant to the 2010 South Africa World Cup organizers, on concerns that the global economic downturn could impact the number of visitors to the tournament. (Reuters)

“We haven’t heard anything from Bayern Munich about Landon [Donovan] going on loan to that team.”

— MLS Commissioner Don Garber at a press conference last Friday. On Thursday, Bayern Munich’s official Web site reported that Landon Donovan had gotten the oral go-ahead from MLS to go on loan to Bayern Munich from Jan. 1 until the beginning of the MLS season in March in a deal similar to Galaxy’s teammate David Beckham’s with AC Milan. The Bayern Web site also cited Bayern coach Juergen Klinsmann as saying he could imagine a longer-term acquisition of Donovan.

“I was sort of unemployed, so that probably helped.”

— Sigi Schmid on why left his home in Southern California to take over the Columbus Crew in 2006. He led the Los Angeles Galaxy to three MLS Cup finals and had the team in first place in the Western Conference when he was fired in 2004. He returns to the Home Depot Center Sunday to lead the Crew against the New York Red Bulls in MLS Cup ’08. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

“We’re not going to gild the lily.”

— San Jose Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff on his proposal to go ahead with plans to build a soccer stadium in San Jose — but a much scaled-back facility (without luxury boxes) costing less than the $100 million that had earlier been projected because of the downturn in the economy. (San Jose Mercury-News)

“The state of Chinese soccer at the moment makes everyone feel bitter. If it goes on like this, it’s in danger of being thoroughly destroyed.”

— Jiang Heping, head of sports for CCTV, China’s government-run broadcaster, in the Titan sports newspaper on the decision to black out top Chinese league matches because of on-field fighting at a recent game and reports likening some players to martial arts experts.

“A trick? I wouldn’t say so. It’s up to the referee to decide if it should be penalized, otherwise I don’t see where the problem is … Good taste is relative.”

— Pietro Lo Monaco, chief executive of Italian Serie A club Catania, whose coach, the former MLS goalie and coach Walter Zenga, has been accused of using dirty tricks in having his players dropped their shorts to block the sight of the opposing goalie on free kicks. The Sicilian team carried out the maneuver to perfection Sunday when three players dropped their shorts practically to their knees so Torino goalie Matteo Sereni couldn’t see the kick by Giuseppe Mascara, who scored during Catania’s 3-2 victory. (AP)

“We have to congratulate all the guys and the posts. I have been disappointed sometimes with our luck. I think we got it today.”

— New York Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio, whose team reached MLS Cup 2008 with a 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake, which hit the post three times. (New York Daily News)

“High Praise from Klinsmann: Donovan is for Ready Bayern”

— German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung after the first three days of Landon Donovan‘s 10-day training stint with Bayern Munich.

“I tried to celebrate the goal and I received some things at me. The big mistake I did was to throw it back so if someone was hurt I just want to apologize for it.”

— Cheslea forward Didier Drogba, who tossed a coin back into the crowd that was thrown at him by Burnley fans during an English League Cup game on Wednesday. He received a yellow card for returning the money. The were no reports of coin bruise. (BBC)

“I can remember the second year at Arsenal, I was in the car with my dad and brother. A kid was walking down the road with a ‘Walcott 32’ shirt on. I put the window down and I said, ‘I’ve got a shirt like that too.'”

— Theo Walcott, the 19-year-old forward now in his third year at Arsenal. (Irish Times)

“How can it not make a difference? Now when you think of America, you don’t think George W. Bush or war. You think of this man, Obama, who has made history and given hope to millions. The men who vote on World Cup hosts are not immune to those same feelings. If the U.S. bid stacks up in terms of infrastructure and organization, then Obama could be a huge factor.”

— “A high-placed FIFA source” indicates that the election of Barack Obama increases the chances of the USA winning the bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. (Yahoo!Sports)